Positive parenting skills and practices are scientifically proven to be critical to children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and psycho-social development. A new online tool launched today has been designed with the needs of Vietnamese parents in mind – providing them with practical activities, skills, and approaches that support them on their parenting journey.

Launched by UNICEF, the MoLISA, and other partners today, the initiative is part of a partnership to expand the IECD Holistic Parenting agenda in Vietnam and promote nurturing care for children.

Giving his opening remarks at the launch, Dang Hoa Nam, director of the Children’s Affairs Department at the MoLISA said, “We have long recognised the need for holistic parenting in the early years of children's lives and the indispensable nature of promoting the necessary skills to help parents and caregivers to do their best as the main providers of the care, nutrition, stimulation, and protection that every child needs for their healthy development.”

“This course supports a crucial window of opportunity, where with the right approaches, children’s development and happiness benefit greatly. We will successfully move the parenting agenda forward in Vietnam,” he added.

Science shows that there are time-bound windows of opportunity (the 1,000 first days), where if children receive the right nutrition, stimulation, encouragement, space for creativity, healthcare, and protection, they thrive in all areas and grow with confidence.

Their brains make many more neural connections, and they do better in education, have fewer behavioural problems, and face less substance abuse and mental health challenges in the future. Often, the challenge rests with knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to manage oneself as a parent.

Developed by a group of experienced IECD experts in Vietnam, the course consists of 20 lessons targeting parents and caregivers of children aged 0-8 years old, with creative visual aids illustrating parenting situations and challenges.

The lessons include managing children's physical and mental health, stimulating exercise through play and encouragement, developing children's cognitive ability, responding to their behavioural challenges, and protecting them from violence and abuse, among others.

At the launch, Nguyen Thi Y Duyen, officer-in-charge of the Child Protection Programme at UNICEF Viet Nam said, “Parenting is too important to be left to chance. Reliable information, skills, and tools can support parents and caregivers, allowing them to enjoy their role and give children a brilliant start on the journey to reaching their full potential.”

“UNICEF is supporting MoLISA and other partners to pioneer IECD in Vietnam, helping ensure children are healthy, ready to learn, and able to thrive,” continued Duyen.

The course is part of the Vietnam IECD Holistic Parenting Programme, which was developed based on an initiative by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is now being implemented in 15 provinces, with an aim to reach hundreds of thousands of parents and caregivers throughout the country. Vietnam’s parenting e-learning course has built on the platform of the National Child Helpline 111.

Tina Nguyen, CEO of Generali Vietnam – an active member of The Human Safety Net – said, “Promoting early childhood development and supporting Vietnamese families is key to Generali Vietnam’s community agenda with the Sinh Con, Sinh Cha (Born Parents, Born Children) parenting programme being our flagship corporate social responsibility initiative. Parenting is an important, full-time job, yet not every parent is fully conscious of the fact that such a job requires learning and training to best benefit our children."

"Sinh Con, Sinh Cha has found a smart and effective approach to deliver and promote parenting knowledge and skills to parents via interesting online educational videos with practical and useful content. We’re pleased to be able to contribute content and video clips from our offerings to this e-learning course by UNICEF and MoLISA. We hope this vital parenting knowledge will be able to reach millions of families across the country,” she added.

Through this online course, parents and caregivers will find useful and up-to-date knowledge and skill-building resources for their children’s upbringing. More importantly, parents will know how to express love and care properly for their children, enabling them to feel loved, safe, and enjoy the mental wellbeing that is so important for them to reach their fullest potential.

Supporters of UNICEF have contributed to the development of the course, including the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Government of Japan, and The Human Safety Net of Generali Group. UNICEF and MoLISA have worked with the Central Vietnam Women's Union, the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry, and The Human Safety Net Vietnam to widely promote the course to parents with children under eight years old across the country.